<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Off-Stage Timing by PrincessAmericaChavez</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27211900">Off-Stage Timing</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessAmericaChavez/pseuds/PrincessAmericaChavez'>PrincessAmericaChavez</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Julie and The Phantoms (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, F/M, M/M, Missing Scene, Spoilers for the Season 1 finale</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 19:07:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>753</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27211900</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessAmericaChavez/pseuds/PrincessAmericaChavez</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke Patterson has many talents —he is an amazing songwriter, a great singer, and a pretty good dancer— but timing has never been one of his strengths. Mind you, when it comes to music timing he’s nearly always spot on, but when it comes to life? Not really.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alex/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>131</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Off-Stage Timing</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    
<p></p><div class="">
  <p>Luke Patterson has many talents —he is an amazing songwriter, a great singer, and a pretty good dancer— but timing has never been one of his strengths. Mind you, when it comes to music timing he’s nearly always spot on, but when it comes to life? Not really.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He took so damn long to get to the Orpheum only to die two hours before the show because of a craving. He had to go and die before he had the guts to call his mother and fix things. After years of saying his only love was music, he had to go and fall for the most wonderful girl he’s ever met... while he’s a ghost. And now, on top of that, just when it seems like things are looking good for the band, he’s going to blink out of existence right after what should have been the greatest night of their afterlives.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Laying on the floor of the old studio where he spent so many nights dreaming of their big break, Luke decides that, indeed, his timing sucks.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Now what?” Alex groans, trying to get back up on his feet.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“It didn’t work,” Reggie mumbles, breathlessly.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Now what?” Alex repeats, nervous.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Luke knows his friend is asking for a plan, a solution, a way out of this after death sentence, but all he has in mind is one thing: “we can’t let Julie know. She can’t know we failed,” he groans, rolling over in an attempt to at least get back on his hands and knees. “She already lost her mother. She can’t think that we are also-“</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The glitch that ripples through his body steals the words out of his mouth. Despite his best efforts, he screams. How can this be so much more painful than actually dying?! By the time the spasm passes, his head is spinning and he’s fighting to catch his breath. He doesn’t even breathe!</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“So she’s- she’s gonna think we just moved on after the concert?” Alex, back on the floor, finishes his idea with the same ease as he follows his lead on the stage.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Yeah.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“That’s nice,” Reggie sighs wistfully. “I wish we had.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Me too,” Alex’s voice is shaky.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Luke doesn’t chime in. He doesn’t want to lie to them, but he doesn’t want to admit either that part of him hoped they’d stayed, not to suffer this slow painful erasure from existence but to stay with Julie. He’s not particularly interested in heaven. He’d much rather keep making music with his friends and her. Her. He sighs. He should have told her. Damn his timing.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The next shock of pain is less of a ripple and more of an earthquake. They don’t scream this time. In tandem, they clench their teeth and press their lips together to muffle any pained sounds threatening to escape their throats. They suffer in silence. For Julie.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>As the pain subsides and the world comes back into focus, Luke hears sobbing. He has heard that sound before, for so long that at some point in the past twenty-five years he started tunning it out. A pang of guilt crosses his chest. He finds Alex’s hand and holds him tightly. His friend’s grip is tight, terrified. Reggie doesn’t cry, but when Luke’s hand finds his shoulder, he feels him grab onto him with the exact same desperation.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“At least we are together,” Reggie says after the next wave.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I wouldn’t change anything,” Luke says, hoping they hear the smile in his voice despite the pain.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I wish I’d kissed Willie,” Alex whispers.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Although it wasn’t even a possibility, Luke also wishes he’d kissed Julie. Too late now. Too late to even try.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Tears escape his eyes as he struggles silently through the next glitch. He holds on tightly to his band, his family, afraid that if he lets go of them they’ll fade before he does and leave him truly alone.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Together,” Alex and Reggie echo nearly at the same time.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Together,” he agrees, though his voice is barely audible.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Outside the house, he hears singing. Julie’s voice brings a smile to his lips. He got to hear her one more time. Sometimes he really gets lucky. Now he only has to be quiet, keep it together a few more minutes until she goes to sleep thinking her band is safe and happy wherever her mom is. He can give her that.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>If only his terrible timing doesn’t bring another painful glitch in the next few moments, that is.</p>
</div>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>